Emily
Nolan met my mom at a singles dance when I was 11. He had lost his first wife years earlier to a brain tumor and my mom had been so hurt that she didn't really try before that. My whole life before that, it was just me and her. We struggled alot and while I was deeply loved, I have no doubt in my mind that I owe in part most of my greatest accomplishments to my mother meeting this man. He made us all better people and he took care of us. We lost him late on April fools day and my childhood house is unnaturally silent without him here. We butted heads alot but he was an amazing man. He loved my mother the way she deserved and I owe him everything for that.
Before me, he had two other daughters but they were grown by the time he met my mother. One of them was special needs and under his care her entire life. And one of them had three little girls, and he would always say that he grew up in a doll house and his job was to protect us and love us unconditionally. No matter your disabilities or problems, although if you stepped far enough out of line he'd give you his opinions. Our family wasn't normal... I was closer in age to my nieces than my sisters. But we were a family in a way that I never had had before in my life. He made us a family. Before Nolan, I had never came home to a parent at home asking about my day. Or sat down to a family dinner or been expected to do anything but be myself and survive. He made sure every single day that we woke up and we really were somebody. And I didn't make it easy. I was even more strong willed then. But he did it because he loved my mother and he had to protect the dollhouse.
